2013 Liquid Farm Chardonnay Golden Slope- USA, California, Central Coast, Sta. Rita Hills (7/29/2015)
– popped and poured –
– tasted non-blind over a couple hours –
NOSE: rich bouquet; bitter florals (Smarties candy); light to medium-light oak; hints of dandelion and underbrush; not complex.
BODY: golden yellow color of light to medium-light depth. {forgot to note wine’s weight}
TASTE: medium+ to high acidity; rich; medium oak; some mineral on the finish; alc. not noticeable; simple; not good QPR @$42; Drink now through 2020, conservatively speaking; very good, but I feel like my score is a point or two too high.
I don’t score and I’m agonizingly unimaginative when it comes to wine descriptors but I did like this one very much. To me a much more traditional Cali. (oak) style than White Hill which I also quite like. Worth $42? Other than free you can always find better QPR no matter what you’re drinking.
I hear ya’ re: QPR. I try not to get too wrapped-up in it (otherwise I’d very rarely drink wines north of $20), but I tend to make note of it when I feel a wine’s quality is particularly good or bad for its price point. I think there’s a ton of $40 - $45 chardonnays out there that are better than this one. I see you mentioned the White Hill in your post — I prefer that one over the Golden Slope, and the White Hill costs about 17% less (or the Golden Slope costs 20% more than the White Hill, depending on which way you approach it). I can see myself buying the White Hill again, but I can’t say the same for the Golden Slope.
Agree with you 100% on the GS vs WH
I’ve been drinking a bunch of the 2013 WH and am comfortable with the relative QPR
The 2013 GS didn’t do much for me, and at that price point I like Talley and Boheme
I don’t want to get too far afield, but do you think that maybe the fact that you break scoring into component sometimes leads to score inflation/deflation? Sometimes I score, sometimes I don’t, but breaking down a wine into components seems to me to be a bit mechanical as a wine is more than merely the sum of its parts.
Not a criticism, genuinely interested in your thoughts.
How did you feel about the 2012 Golden Slope, because I thought it was gorgeous and is the main reason I bit the bullet and joined the club. I liked the White Hill as well, but seemed like it need some age to shine where the Golden Slope was luscious yet balanced pretty early on. I have 2013’s of the GS but I haven’t tried any yet.
From my visit at the winery a couple months ago, felt that 2013 the Golden Slope was the winner, while 2012 White Hill showed much better for me. I have another 2012 Golden Slope up to bat next weekend, I think.
2013 Liquid Farm White Hill Chard
11 months in neutral oak. Beautifully flinty, pear, limestone even, a seductive bouquet. This one will need time if it is to come together, hits you kind of hard at the front, has a slight ginger bitterness. Rather chalky parts to the texture with pear and star fruit underneath
2013 Liquid Farm Golden Slope Chard
Almost all their Chard is done in Damy barrels (which I love for Chard). This saw 16 months in 20% new oak. Buttery and butterfinger, pear, peach. This is the winner this year, fantastic balance and length—that touch of creaminess to just-so buttered toast. Lilting sweet lemondrop and “hidden” pear complete the fine portrait. Delish and will only get better—I have to find a way to source a couple bottles.
Sometimes it does. Whenever I feel that my score is inflated or deflated as a result, I comment on that in my note. The majority of my notes don’t have scores these days b/c I don’t usually feel like going through that process. For my notes without an “official” score, I sometimes give what I call a “gut impression score,” which is usually a 2 or 3 point range. Other times, I don’t score at all.
I always felt that Brian’s type of scoring lead to a broader range of scores, at least for me, when tasting multiple wines. I was forced to say wine1 looks better than wine2 and wine3 for example. So a wine that was slightly better in every category scored significantly better total.
I loved the '12 Golden Slope!
I think Mike G and I talked about them in Modesto and our opinions were exact opposites on which one we preferred in which vintage. No biggie. It’s what makes wine fun and unique for each person.
I’m perfectly fine with however people do/don’t score. However, the comment about the score being inflated made me wonder if the detailed approach actually does the opposite of what it intends. That said, I’m generally more taken by prose and more than once Brian has influenced me to spend too much money.
I liked this, not as much as you though. I was surprised by the amount of oak in it. While I have not had a lot, this certainly seemed more than prior vintages or what I was expecting.
I started drinking Liquid Farm wines with the '11 vintage. I recall the White Hill '11 to have had characteristics in common with Chablis. It had a lean profile, with bracing acidity and some salinity. I might be in the minority here, but I have not had the same reaction to the '12 and '13 LF wines. I think they are fine wines, just more fruit-forward and voluptuous with more noticeable oak than the '11s. The '11s were more in my stylistic wheelhouse than the more recent vintages.
The '11 WH is my favorite vintage of that bottling for the reasons you describe. '12 and '13 didn’t have the same punch, but are still better than most other chards I have tasted.
I’m an old school LF-er, so I heartily recommend that any of you who come across a 2010 GS (be it a friends cellar, or what have you), try to make it happen somehow. As for the WH, most of us know 2011 nailed it…it’s a near perfect CA Chard for what it is.
When the 12’s came out I don’t think I was tasting them in the right conditions, and part of me knew that the magic from the 10/11’s would be hard to re-create, but it’s good to hear the positive reviews on more recent vintages.
The '12 GS we opened last night (after the '14 LF Mourvedre Rosé Vogelzang) was fantastic. Luscious mouthfeel, great cut, tasty!!! Perfect with fresh Dungeness Crab and Alaska Sockeye Salmon over a wood fire.
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}